Spinus is a genus of passerine birds in the finch family. It contains the North and South American siskins and goldfinches.All of the species in the genus other than the Tibetan serin were formerly included in the genus Carduelis. They were moved to the resurrected genus Spinus based on phylogenetic studies of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. The Tibetan serin was formerly placed in the genus Serinus.